FRANKFORT (Kentucky Today) – Despite some areas of Kentucky receiving rain earlier this week, drought conditions have worsened in the commonwealth. That’s according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report issued on Thursday.
Only 4.37 percent of the state has no drought condition, all in Northern Kentucky (white color on map below). That is down from the 11.78 percent recorded last week.
13.81 percent is considered “Abnormally Dry,” or D0 on the drought severity scale that goes up to D4, “Exceptional Drought.” While that is down from last week’s 33.32 percent, it is due to conditions deteriorating elsewhere.
(Abnormally Dry is colored in yellow, which include far northern sections of Breckinridge, western Meade and northwestern Hancock Counties)
Just over half of the state, or 55.34 percent, is experiencing D1 conditions, or “Moderate Drought.” (Beige color on map, including most of Breckinridge, Grayson, Hardin and northern Ohio,) That is up from the 37.04 percent that appeared in the previous Drought Monitor report.
23.62 percent is listed as D2, or “Severe Drought,” (Gold, including southern Ohio) which represents an increase from last week’s 17.85 percent.
For the first time this year, the U.S. Drought Monitor introduced a D3, or “Extreme Drought” (Red) area, consisting of parts of six counties in far Western Kentucky.
“Areas from southeast Missouri to central Illinois and into Ohio and Kentucky received less than 25 percent of normal precipitation,” said Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center. “Moderate drought expanded across much of eastern and northern Kentucky, while extreme drought expanded over the bootheel of Missouri and into far western Kentucky.”
There may be some relief on the horizon. According to the Climate Prediction Center, the 6-10 day outlook for Kentucky calls for slightly above normal temperatures, as well as above normal precipitation. That continues in the 8-14 day outlook, which takes us to nearly the end of April.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.
